Brielle Ansems’s newest single would be right at home played from the stage of a smoky cafe. “Ironside” boasts sultry vocals and the rainy, desolate imagery of tattoo parlours and the downtown streets of Charlottetown.
“Ironside” follows shortly on the tails her debut release, “More Than My Heart”, and will be featured on her upcoming album, This New Hurricane. “Ironside” has Ansems exploring the way her comfortable surroundings have been forever changed after going through a breakup. At the same time, Ansems ponders whether getting a tattoo will break the spell that still ties her to the person she’s lost.
Ansems does wonders when it comes to building the atmosphere on this track. Though there’s no mention of weather or time, it’s hard not to visualize a dark, stormy night when listening to her laments of lost love. She’s very subtle in her worldbuilding, but the result is something fully visible in the mind’s eye.
Besides that, Ansems seems to have easily captured the seeping nature of a breakup, the way that it oozes into every facet of your everyday life without you realizing. Something as simple as walking down the street can become a hurdle when it means being bombarded with memories. Her ritualistic longing for a tattoo as a means to seal away the past is also something many people can probably relate to, if only in its impulsiveness.
Ansems stays rooted in the very depths of her voice for the most part, leaving us to peer into the murk and gloom. It never feels like she’s trapped there, however. Her low croon feels like a very deliberate choice for the somber atmosphere of the song. In fact, her ghostly wail during the bridge shows that she’s very capable with any range.
It’s easy to get lost in the richness of it. The repetitive instrumentation pulsing like a heartbeat throughout the track is nothing short of mesmerizing. Because of this, the track feels much shorter than it actually is. You’ll get pulled in by the ebb and flow, and before you know it, you’ll be restarting the song to experience it all again.